Critical Reasoning

The world's finest single-malt whiskies come from the highland of Scotland. If the quality of the blended whisky derives from the quality of its component ingredients, then MacDuff's whisky must be the finest whisky in the world, because it blends no fewer than five Scotland's finest single-malt whiskies.

The argument above could be seriously weaken if which of the followin were true?

A. The more single-malt whiskies involved in the batch of blended whisky, the finer the quality of whisky.

B. Whereas many of MacDuff's competitors have been in industry for decades or even century, the MacDuff brand was created within the last decade by marketing committee.

C. Including more than five single-malt whiskies in a blended whisky is a waste, because no one can taste that many component flavors.

D. A blended whisky is as fine as the average quality of its components.

E. The concept of "finest" in a whisky is a subjective measure that cannot be quantified in a statistically valid way.

OA Later

It feels like a close tie between C and D.

But the Argument tells that the quality of the whisky is derived from its components. But not about how it is derived.

As option D helps me find out how that derivation works and the result thus will be opposite two what the author states here.

D is the answer.

Prashantbhardwaj wrote:D is the answer.

You are right

reply2spg wrote:The world's finest single-malt whiskies come from the highland of Scotland. If the quality of the blended whisky derives from the quality of its component ingredients, then MacDuff's whisky must be the finest whisky in the world, because it blends no fewer than five Scotland's finest single-malt whiskies.

The argument above could be seriously weaken if which of the followin were true?

A. The more single-malt whiskies involved in the batch of blended whisky, the finer the quality of whisky.

B. Whereas many of MacDuff's competitors have been in industry for decades or even century, the MacDuff brand was created within the last decade by marketing committee.

C. Including more than five single-malt whiskies in a blended whisky is a waste, because no one can taste that many component flavors.

D. A blended whisky is as fine as the average quality of its components.

E. The concept of "finest" in a whisky is a subjective measure that cannot be quantified in a statistically valid way.

OA Later

I did not get this question.

Can somebody explain the why the credited answer is correct?

IMO D

simple :

You are mixing 5 components with rating : 4 5 6 7 8 -to make new component A

So avg rating = 6

D says : rating of the new component A = avg rating = 6

clearly 6 < 10, so it is not the best.

FightWithGMAT wrote:

reply2spg wrote:The world's finest single-malt whiskies come from the highland of Scotland. If the quality of the blended whisky derives from the quality of its component ingredients, then MacDuff's whisky must be the finest whisky in the world, because it blends no fewer than five Scotland's finest single-malt whiskies.

The argument above could be seriously weaken if which of the followin were true?

A. The more single-malt whiskies involved in the batch of blended whisky, the finer the quality of whisky.

B. Whereas many of MacDuff's competitors have been in industry for decades or even century, the MacDuff brand was created within the last decade by marketing committee.

C. Including more than five single-malt whiskies in a blended whisky is a waste, because no one can taste that many component flavors.

D. A blended whisky is as fine as the average quality of its components.

E. The concept of "finest" in a whisky is a subjective measure that cannot be quantified in a statistically valid way.

OA Later

I did not get this question.

Can somebody explain the why the credited answer is correct?

My method of reasoning was
Conclusion " MacDuff's whisky must be the finest whisky in the world, because it blends no fewer than five Scotland's finest single-malt whiskies"

How can finest be average : If 5 finest malt whisky make one average blend whisky , option D suggest fine blended whisky is an average qaulity, than finest Macduff whisky is not a finest whisky - that is not the conclusion.

Thanks for posting this question : Now I can make difference in BP and JD. JD is Single malt premium stoch and BP is blended whisky.

paes wrote:IMO D

simple :

You are mixing 5 components with rating : 4 5 6 7 8 -to make new component A

So avg rating = 6

D says : rating of the new component A = avg rating = 6

clearly 6 < 10, so it is not the best.

Hey Thanks Man!!!
Awesome is your maths!!! I got the clue from ur explanation

Actually, the argument says that quality of a blend is proportional to that of its components.

D denies this, saying that such proportionality does not exists.
Rather
quality of a blend is linked to the AVERAGE of the qualities of its components.

FightWithGMAT wrote:

paes wrote:IMO D

simple :

You are mixing 5 components with rating : 4 5 6 7 8 -to make new component A

So avg rating = 6

D says : rating of the new component A = avg rating = 6

clearly 6 < 10, so it is not the best.

Hey Thanks Man!!!
Awesome is your maths!!! I got the clue from ur explanation

Actually, the argument says that quality of a blend is proportional to that of its components.

D denies this, saying that such proportionality does not exists.
Rather
quality of a blend is linked to the AVERAGE of the qualities of its components.

GMAC... you are very tricky the way you phrase questions and answer choices.

I was stuck between C and D. I read the question again and I try to find out why I should have eliminated C in the first place. The stem says 'no fewer than 5'. It means exactly 5 but not less right? If the latter is true, than C can be eliminated for exaggeration (more than five is out of scope). I would be grateful if someone can clarify my reasoning.

Could u pls reveal the source ?

@ikaplan
it is critical to distinguish between world's finesh whiskies (WFWs) and finesh whisky in the world (FWW)

WFWs come from scotland.

The new whiskey blends =5 or greater than 5 of WFWs.

The assumption here is FWW is rated > WFW's each are.
Assumption 2 is that the 5 or more that were blended to get FWW, have top rating among all WFWs.

Best case scenario, If =5, even if all the 5 WFWs are rated 10/10, FWW=10
>5 can only get worser.

Thanks

i was confused between C and D but i chose the wrong answer option C.i am still not getting it cna anyone please explain it to me in more detail.

IMO D

reply2spg wrote:The world's finest single-malt whiskies come from the highland of Scotland. If the quality of the blended whisky derives from the quality of its component ingredients, then MacDuff's whisky must be the finest whisky in the world, because it blends no fewer than five Scotland's finest single-malt whiskies.

The argument above could be seriously weaken if which of the followin were true?

A. The more single-malt whiskies involved in the batch of blended whisky, the finer the quality of whisky.

B. Whereas many of MacDuff's competitors have been in industry for decades or even century, the MacDuff brand was created within the last decade by marketing committee.

C. Including more than five single-malt whiskies in a blended whisky is a waste, because no one can taste that many component flavors.

D. A blended whisky is as fine as the average quality of its components.

E. The concept of "finest" in a whisky is a subjective measure that cannot be quantified in a statistically valid way.

OA Later

Very easy one. IMO D. For two reason:

If 5 finest whiskies have different rank. The average will lower than the highest rank.

If 5 finest whiskies have same rank. For example, #1, why they did not sell 5 different whiskies rather than combine them.

edirik wrote:Sorry but I did not understand how you get to the 10. Mean is 6 Ok, but how do you come up with the 10?

paes wrote:IMO D

simple :

You are mixing 5 components with rating : 4 5 6 7 8 -to make new component A

So avg rating = 6

D says : rating of the new component A = avg rating = 6

clearly 6 < 10, so it is not the best.

Nope, 6<8. He type error